“Priština wants to block customs agreement”

BELGRADE Serbian government's Office for Kosovo Director Aleksandar Vulin says Kosovo Serbs would never be asked to pay customs if the money went to Kosovo's budget. He added that, by announcing this, Pristina was trying to do everything to prevent the agreement from being implemented. “Pristina wants to block customs agreement” "If even one dinar collected at the administrative crossings was paid into the Kosovo budget, then neither I nor this government would ask the Serbs to take part in such an agreement and contribute to the recognition of a Kosovo state in any way," Vulin told Tanjug on Thursday, commenting on a statement of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who said that the funds would be included in the Kosovo budget. Vulin added that, whenever there was a solution or at least a proposal that guaranteed certain benefits to the Serbs and did not suit Kosovo Albanians, Pristina was trying to do everything to prevent such solution from being realized. As he put it, Thaci is doing this in order for the agreement to stay unrealized and unimplemented. "Taci's statement that the money will go to Kosovo's budget is calculated to disturb and frighten the Serbs and prevent them from taking part in implementation of these agreements and also to draw attention from violence and barbarity Pristina has been showing for days now by destroying Serb cemeteries and every memory of Serbs," Vulin stressed. The latest wave of desecration of Serb cemeteries in Kosovo followed Belgrade's decision to remove a memorial to the killed members of the so-called Liberation Army of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja, which was erected in the southern Serbian town of Presevo by local authorities without the necessary permits. The paramilitary organization launched an armed rebellion in that part of the country back in 2000. Vulin said that everything that was happening was solely Pristina's responsibility and that Pristina would be responsible if the agreement was not implemented. Thaci stated on Wednesday that a special fund for the development of the north had been formed and that all revenues from customs duties and taxes collected at the Brnjak and Jarinje administrative crossings in northern Kosovo would flow into this fund and be included in the Kosovo budget. Aleksandar Vulin (Tanjug, file) Tanjug

“Priština wants to block customs agreement”

"If even one dinar collected at the administrative crossings was paid into the Kosovo budget, then neither I nor this government would ask the Serbs to take part in such an agreement and contribute to the recognition of a Kosovo state in any way," Vulin told Tanjug on Thursday, commenting on a statement of Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who said that the funds would be included in the Kosovo budget.

Vulin added that, whenever there was a solution or at least a proposal that guaranteed certain benefits to the Serbs and did not suit Kosovo Albanians, Priština was trying to do everything to prevent such solution from being realized.

As he put it, Thaci is doing this in order for the agreement to stay unrealized and unimplemented.

"Taci's statement that the money will go to Kosovo's budget is calculated to disturb and frighten the Serbs and prevent them from taking part in implementation of these agreements and also to draw attention from violence and barbarity Priština has been showing for days now by destroying Serb cemeteries and every memory of Serbs," Vulin stressed.

The latest wave of desecration of Serb cemeteries in Kosovo followed Belgrade's decision to remove a memorial to the killed members of the so-called Liberation Army of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja, which was erected in the southern Serbian town of Preševo by local authorities without the necessary permits.

The paramilitary organization launched an armed rebellion in that part of the country back in 2000.

Vulin said that everything that was happening was solely Priština's responsibility and that Priština would be responsible if the agreement was not implemented.

Thaci stated on Wednesday that a special fund for the development of the north had been formed and that all revenues from customs duties and taxes collected at the Brnjak and Jarinje administrative crossings in northern Kosovo would flow into this fund and be included in the Kosovo budget.